11 juni 2008

Dear all,

Tommy had an operation last Friday on his arm. Due to a nerve his left arm was still quite spastic and this also caused problems on his pinkey. They repositioned the nerve around his elbow and they “softened” the muscle in his pinkey. The first days after the operation he suffered a lot and was very emotional but he is getting better now.

He is still improving which is good news. He can shower himself, walk by himself for a certain amount of time/distance – see picture and video taken yesterday - right now there is still someone else walking next to him to make sure he does not fall, he can brush his teeth, …  Also his view is getting better according to Tommy. Tonight he told me that he could see some movements on tele as he was watching football.

Simon and Robyn miss their father a lot and Tommy always tells me that he would like to spend more time with them.  He cries every time we leave the hospital. Tomorrow we will pick him up after rehab and have pizza at one of our best friends’ house. Saturday will be a quiet day and Sunday we go to Tommy’s sister’s house to celebrate her and Tommy’s grandmother’s birthday. Hopefully we will be able to cheer him up as he was a bit down this week. Guess he is thinking a lot about his future, Siemens, … 

Pls look at the video of Tommy walking by himself. I promised him I would put it on the blog and he was very happy about this.

Next week he will get a visit from Siemens India and that really made him very happy. More news will follow later … 

Best, Vicky  

8 juni 2008

Hallo familie en vrienden,

Vrijdagavond heeft Tommy een ingreep ondergaan.
Omdat hij een hele tijd spastisch geweest is, is zijn linkerarm heel erg vast te komen zitten. Na onderzoek zag men dat er een zenuw gekneld was in zijn elleboog en dat hij hierdoor een ‘klauwhand’ aan het ontwikkelen was. Hij had al problemen met zijn pink, die stond heel krom.

Nu hebben ze de zenuw die hier voor verantwoordelijk was losgemaakt en  nu hopen wij dat zijn arm snel geneest zodat hij deze ook weer volleg zal kunnen gebruiken.

De operatie is perfect gelopen, hij is wat ziekjes geweest na de narcose, maar vandaag is hij al een wandeling in de tuin van het ziekenhuis gaan maken met Vicky en de kindjes. Hij heeft wel veel pijn, maar dat kan hij heel goed relativeren.

Zo, voor de rest gaat het relatief goed, de revalidatie is keihard, maar we zien nog steeds progressie. Zolang die er is zijn wij zeer hoopvol.

Hij vraagt ook geregeld of er iets op de blog staat, dus met een bericht (al is het maar om hallo te zeggen ) is hij heel blij.
Groetjes,

Ingrid

2 juni 2008

Dear everybody,

This time Tommy asked me to write some things for you all.

He wants to thank everybody who think of him. He says he is doing very well but he needs the support of you all. His rehab is very hard. He is working for six hours a day. Please don’t hesitate to write something on the blog because he likes to reed some news of you.

Last weekend he came home to Diest. On Friday I went to Ghent and I brought him with me home. During our ride to Diest we talked a lot and we were laughing all the time. Tommy likes to hear again and again the story of his periode in Canada and in the ICU in Ghent because he doesn’t remembers anything of this. So he likes it when we tell him about his ‘weird reactions’.

On saturday in the morning, my little daughter, my little son and I made him a nice breakfast. Together with our mother, father and my husband we had a delightful morning. In the afternoon he went back to Ronse for a barbecue with Vicky’s family.

Yesterday It was Vicky’s birthday and Tommy had a wonderful day with his family.

So thats it for now. Tommy hopes you will write him soon.

Ingrid